Big badaboom!

This video clip is said to show a Russian truck carrying cylinders of oxygen - well, what used to be cylinders of oxygen . . .

Peter

Another reason not to walk during a snowstorm . . .

This security video was shot in front of an auto dealership in Brooklyn, New York City, during a recent snowstorm.

I'm still not sure why he didn't see it coming in time to duck aside.  Lost in thought, perhaps?  Or just cold?

Peter

Polish spectators seem to have learned . . .

. . . to stand further away from rally courses than their counterparts in other nations.  Given that their drivers seem to crash just as often, and just as hard, that's probably not a bad idea - as this Polish TV footage illustrates.

Oops . . .





Peter

Truck got stuck

I wasn't aware that Canada had a country music 'scene' (unless you count some of Gordon Lightfoot's work), and I'd certainly never heard of Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans - not until Miss D. sent me the link to this song.  It had me laughing out loud, because I've spent many an hour unbogging vehicles (everything from a Land-Rover to military trucks, APC's and even a tank) from red clay laterite mud in various parts of Africa.  Not fun . . .

Looks like parts of Canada have the same sort of mud problem as parts of Angola . . . minus the shellfire, of course!





Peter

A miraculous escape

You may have heard about the mid-air collision between two light aircraft filled with skydivers over Wisconsin last weekend. Video of the collision is now available, filmed by at least two of the parachutists using helmet-mounted cameras. It's amazing footage.

Definitely a constipation-curing moment, I'd say!





Peter

Doofus Of The Day #737

Today's award goes to a tow truck driver in England.

I presume the person heard on the video was the owner of the car. She seemed a trifle upset . . .





Peter

Forgot the parking brake, did we?

I bet this truck driver had some explaining to do when the ferry got to the other side . . .

Oops!





Peter

Looking to things rather than people for solutions - again

Yesterday I pointed out that banning guns, or alcohol, or whatever, because they are misused by people, is missing the point.  If people's choices, characters and behaviors are the problem, banning an object, a thing, won't solve it.  Only changing the true underlying cause(s) will cure it.

Today we see yet another example of that.

It’s the most devastating mistake imaginable: Parents killing their own children when they accidentally back their vehicles over them.

Dozens of children have died in such accidents this year alone. Technology exists that could eliminate drivers’ blind spots and prevent the accidents from occurring — so why hasn't the government required it?

Six years ago, Congress mandated a new rear-visibility standard for all new cars and gave the U.S. Department of Transportation a 2011 deadline to get it done. But the reforms have been delayed four times now, and the DOT says it needs until 2015 to put requirements in place.

Now safety groups and victims’ families are teaming up to fight for faster results. On Wednesday morning, they are filing a federal lawsuit demanding that the DOT require rear-view cameras in all new vehicles.

There's more at the link.

Friends, allow me to assure you of one thing.  If those parents had made damn sure they knew where their kids were at all times;  if they'd bothered to do a walk-around of their vehicles before getting in and starting them;  if they'd made sure that their kids were supervised, and not free to wander where they pleased;  then none of those fatalities would have occurred.  If rear-view cameras are mandated on all vehicles, as they want, some children will still be run over by their parents from time to time, because some of the latter will still be bloody irresponsible!

I know many will say that the cameras may save a proportion of those who would otherwise be run over.  That's true.  Some irresponsible people may be saved from the consequences of their irresponsibility in some instances.  However, the cure for the problem is not to burden everybody with increased costs and vehicle complexity.  The cure is to get parents to be responsible adults . . . but that's a pipe-dream.  It will never happen.  There will always be irresponsible parents, and as a result, children will go on dying in this way, rear-view cameras or no rear-view cameras.

That's the way it is.  It's been that way since the dawn of time, and it'll be that way until the heat death of the universe.  Human nature remains as fickle as ever it was.

*Sigh*

Peter

A spectacular crash

During the Hellendoorn Rally in the Netherlands last weekend, the Porsche 964 driven by Harry Kleinjan ran into trouble.  From the video, it looks as if he locked up his brakes and was unable to make the turn, with spectacular results.

I bet there were some wet spectators on the far side of the canal . . . and some frightened fish!  Fortunately, the driver and co-driver escaped unhurt.

Peter

It's been a busy day

We bought Miss D. a new-to-her used car yesterday, and spent the morning getting it emissions-tested, registered and licensed, as well as running other errands.  This evening we went for a walk ahead of the oncoming storm front.  Both of us have suffered injuries that act as internal barometers for atmospheric pressure changes, so it was painful, but a relief to get moving for a bit.  We met a little kitten on the way, who reminded us very much of our own recently-acquired cat.  She played happily with us, ran halfway up a tree, chased her own shadow . . . very kittenish, and a lot of fun.

My latest book is performing very differently from my first two SF novels.  Sales are much slower than I'm used to, but steady, and I suspect I'll see more of them when the first reviews begin appearing on Amazon.  The genres in which this book has been published - criminology and memoir, both non-fiction - are much slower-moving than novels.  Even at the slow pace of sales, I'm well up in the top 20 best-sellers in criminology, in both e-book and print sales.  In memoir, I'm much lower down in the e-book rankings, and I don't feature at all in print yet - but it's early days.

I'll put up more posts tomorrow morning.  To keep you going until then, here's a video clip that confuses me somewhat.  See what you think.

The man dribbles a small ball into the path of a car, deliberately obstructing traffic;  then he gets hit on the head by a traffic pole, but it can't possibly hurt him as badly as he's making it out to be (I've been hit by those poles myself, and they're more of a tap than a blow).  I think he's playing for sympathy, or perhaps planning a lawsuit.  After lying there, apparently deliberately, it seems the driver of the car also thinks he's faking it, loses patience with him, and runs over him.  As far as I'm concerned, he asked for it all . . . but then, I can be hard-hearted with idiots.  What do you think?

Peter